On Wednesday, December 22, 1999 at 4:00 PM, at the North Hollywood Police Station, 11640 Burbank Boulevard, the combined anti-drunk-driving forces of LAPD's Valley Traffic Division and West Traffic Division will kick-off a two night effort to reduce drunk driving collisions before Christmas. The press conference will feature Tina Pasco, Executive Director of MADD. On December 22, 1999, the task force will concentrate its efforts in the San Fernando Valley; and on December 23, 1999, the task force will work on the Westside. There will be other unpublicized anti-DUI efforts throughout the rest of the Holiday season.

"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work in a task force mode with West Traffic Division," said Captain Greg Meyer, Commanding Officer, Valley Traffic Division. "With our combined resources, we expect to put a lot of impaired drivers in jail on both sides of the hill. Twenty-one people lost their lives because of DUI-collisions on the city streets of Los Angeles during the first 10 months of this year, which is a 62 % increase over the first 10 months of 1998, and 1,005 people were injured during the same period this year. We are totally committed to making the streets as safe as we can to reduce these tragedies during the holiday season and year-round. There is no excuse for driving drunk. People need to know their limits and use the designated-driver approach. Besides the jail time and the life-long knowledge that you hurt or killed an innocent person, your own license is in jeopardy and the financial impact is astronomical. We all owe a great deal of gratitude to MADD and to our state legislators and governors of the past 15 years or so who have created a huge change in public behavior through education of the public and tough legislation against drunk or drugged driving, but there are still people who violate the anti-DUI laws. They don't care about hurting other people. We are committed to arresting them, impounding their cars, and locking them up."

Note:
This will be an outstanding photo and video opportunity as the police motorcycles roll out of the press conference and onto streets. For further information please contact Valley Traffic Division at 818-756-8381.